Communication apparatus, program, communication method and communication system

ABSTRACT

A communication apparatus including a first storage unit, a second storage unit logically or physically discriminated from the first storage unit, a first communication unit, a second communication unit for transmitting data stored in the second storage unit through electric field coupling or magnetic field coupling, and a selecting unit for selecting at least either the first storage unit or the second storage unit as a storage destination of the data received by the first communication unit.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of and claims thebenefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 from U.S. application Ser. No.12/479,174, filed Jun. 5, 2009, and is based upon and claims the benefitof priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from prior Japanese Patent ApplicationNo. 2008-195228, filed Jul. 29, 2008, the entire contents of both ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a communication apparatus, a program, acommunication method and a communication system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

In recent years, there has been broadly used a radio wave communicationmethod prescribed in the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and ElectronicEngineers) 802.11. In the radio wave communication method, wirelessradio wave is transmitted and received by using an antenna, but thewireless radio wave interferes with a radio wave transmitted or receivedtherearound, which may affect the communication.

There is proposed a short distance wireless communication method whichuses electric field coupling or magnetic field coupling to makecommunication other than the radio wave communication method. In theshort distance wireless communication method, for example, when aplurality of communication apparatuses for performing magnetic fieldcoupling approach, the communication apparatuses magnetically couple sothat a communication is realized between the communication apparatusesthrough magnetic field coupling. In this manner, according to the shortdistance wireless communication method utilizing electric field couplingor magnetic field coupling, since a signal is not transmitted if acommunication party does not approach, an issue for the interference isdifficult to occur, which is more advantageous than the radio wavecommunication method.

Actually, as described in Patent Document 1, for example, there isassumed that a plurality of communication methods are mounted on onecommunication apparatus. More specifically, a communication apparatusdescribed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-291066mounts thereon both a short distance communication function and anetwork communication function, stores therein predetermined dataobtained by the network communication function outside the home, andtransmits the same to a home apparatus by the short distancecommunication function inside the home.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, the data obtained by the network communication function in acommunication apparatus in related art and stored in the communicationapparatus is not limited to the predetermined data to be transmitted bythe short distance communication function. Thus, there is assumed thatwhen the communication apparatus in related art approaches the homeapparatus, after predetermined data is retrieved from the stored data,the predetermined data is transmittable. Therefore, the user needed tomake the communication apparatus and the home apparatus approach eachother for the search time and transmission time of the predetermineddata.

The present invention has been made in views of the above issues, and itis desirable to provide a novel and improved communication apparatus,program, communication method and communication system capable ofrestricting a search time of data to be transmitted by a specificcommunication system.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided acommunication apparatus including: a first storage unit; a secondstorage unit logically or physically discriminated from the firststorage unit; a first communication unit; a second communication unitfor transmitting data stored in the second storage unit through electricfield coupling or magnetic field coupling; and a selecting unit forselecting at least either the first storage unit or the second storageunit as a storage destination of the data received by the firstcommunication unit.

The selecting unit may select a storage destination of the data based onadditional information of the data received by the first communicationunit.

When information indicating a partial range of the data is contained inthe additional information of the data received by the firstcommunication unit, the selecting unit may select the second storageunit as a storage destination of the partial range of the data andselects the first storage unit as a storage destination of the data.

The data stored in the first storage unit may be restricted fromtransmitting from the second communication unit.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a program for causing a computer to function as: a firststorage unit; a second storage unit logically or physicallydiscriminated from the first storage unit; a first communication unit; asecond communication unit for transmitting data stored in the secondstorage unit through electric field coupling or magnetic field coupling;and a selecting unit for selecting at least either the first storageunit or the second storage unit as a storage destination of the datareceived by the first communication unit.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a communication method including the steps of: receiving datain an arbitrary communication method; selecting at least either a firststorage unit or a second storage unit logically or physicallydiscriminated from the first storage unit as a storage destination ofthe data received by the arbitrary communication method; storing thedata in a selected storage destination; and transmitting the data storedin the second storage unit through electric field coupling or magneticfield coupling.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a communication system including: a first communicationapparatus for making communication through electric field coupling ormagnetic field coupling; and a second communication apparatus including,a first storage unit, a second storage unit logically or physicallydiscriminated from the first storage unit, a first communication unit, asecond communication unit for transmitting data stored in the secondstorage unit to the first communication apparatus through electric fieldcoupling or magnetic field coupling, and a selecting unit for selectingat least either the first storage unit or the second storage unit as astorage destination of the data received by the first communicationunit.

According to the embodiments of the present invention described above,it is possible to restrict a search time of data to be transmitted by aspecific communication system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a structure of a communicationsystem according to the present embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a structure of a cell phoneaccording to the present embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a structure example ofadditional information added to content data;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing another structure example ofthe additional information added to the content data; and

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of an operation of the cell phoneaccording to the present embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the appended drawings. Note that,in this specification and the appended drawings, structural elementsthat have substantially the same function and structure are denoted withthe same reference numerals, and repeated explanation of thesestructural elements is omitted.

“DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS” will be describedaccording to the following items:

-   -   (1) Entire structure of the present embodiment    -   (2) Structure of cell phone according to the present embodiment    -   (3) Operation of cell phone according to the present embodiment    -   (4) Conclusion

(1) Entire Structure of The Present Embodiment

At first, the entire structure of a communication system 1 according tothe present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of thecommunication system 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown inFIG. 1, the communication system 1 includes a content server 10, anetwork 12 and cell phones 20A and 20B.

In the present specification, each of the constituents havingsubstantially the same function is discriminated by adding differentalphabets to the same reference numeral. However, when each of theconstituents having the same function does not need to be discriminated,only the reference numeral is denoted. For example, when the cell phone20A and the cell phone 20B does not need to be discriminated from eachother, they are simply denoted as cell phone 20.

The content server 10 is connected to the cell phones 20 via the network12. The content server 10 stores therein content data, and transmits thecontent data to the cell phones 20 in response to a request from thecell phones 20, for example. The content data may be any data includingmusic data such as music, lecture and radio program, video data such ascinema, TV program, video program, photographs, documents, pictures andgraphics, or games and software.

The network 12 is a wired or wireless transmission path for informationtransmitted from an apparatus connected to the network 12. For example,the network 12 may include public line network such as Internet,telephone line network or satellite communication network, or dedicatedline network such as various LAN (Local Area Network) including Ethernet(registered trademark), WAN (Wide Area Network) or IP-VPN (InternetProtocol-Virtual Private Network).

The cell phones 20A and 20B are a communication apparatus which iscommunicable to the content server 10 via the network 12. For example,the cell phone 20A and 20B can store therein, reproduce or transfer thecontent data received from the content server 10.

Further, cell phones 20A and 20B include an electrode plate which isreferred to as electric field coupler capable of electric field couplingwith each other. When the electric field coupler of both cell phones 20Aand 20B approach within 3 cm, for example, a change in inductive fieldoccurring by one electric field coupler is sensed by the other electricfield coupler so that electric field communication is realized betweenthe cell phones 20A and 20B.

Specifically, in a pair of devices for making the above electric fieldcommunication, one of the pair functions as an initiator and the otherfunctions as a responder. The initiator is directed for making aconnection establishment request and the responder is directed forreceiving the connection establishment request from the initiator.

For example, when the cell phone 20B shown in FIG. 1 functions as aninitiator and the cell phone 20A functions as a responder, if the cellphones 20A and 20B approach each other, the cell phone 20A receives aconnection establishment request transmitted from the cell phone 20B.Then, when the connection establishment request is received by the cellphone 20A, the cell phones 20A and 20B perform an authenticationprocessing as one example of the connection establishment processing,and when the authentication processing is normally ended, the cellphones 20A and 20B are connected to a state where data communication ispossible.

The authentication processing includes, for example, confirmation as towhether software versions or emulation systems indicating protocol arecoincided between the cell phones 20A and 20B.

Thereafter, the cell phones 20A and 20B make data communication inone-to-one. Though described later in detail, for example, the cellphone 20A transmits the content data stored in an incorporated dedicatedmemory from an electric field coupler to the cell phone 20B.

Since a radio wave emitted from an antenna attenuates in reverseproportion to the square of the distance and the intensity of theinductive field occurring from the electric field coupler is reverselyproportional to the fourth power of the distance, the distance between apair of cell phones 20 capable of electric field communication can beadvantageously restricted. In other words, there can be obtained effectsthat deterioration in a signal due to surrounding obstacle is less inthe field communication and a technique for preventing hacking orsecuring confidential can be simplified.

A radio wave emitted from an antenna has a transverse wave componentoscillating in a direction orthogonal to the wave traveling directionand a polarized wave is present therein. To the contrary, since theelectric field coupler generates an inductive field having alongitudinal wave component oscillating in the traveling direction andhaving no polarized wave, if the faces of the pair of electric fieldcouplers are opposed to each other, a signal can be convenientlyreceived at the reception side.

In the present specification, there will be described an example inwhich a pair of cell phones 20 utilizes an electric field coupler tomake a short distance wireless communication (non-contactcommunication), but the present invention is not limited to the example.For example, a pair of cell phones 20 can also make short distancewireless communication via a communication unit capable of communicationthrough magnetic field coupling. Further, the cell phones 20A and 20Bcan make telephone communication or e-mail communication.

Further, the cell phones 20A and 20B are merely shown as one example ofthe communication apparatus in FIG. 1, and the present invention is notlimited to the example. For example, the communication apparatus may bean information processing device such as PC (personal computer), homevideo processing device (such as DVD recorder or video cassetterecorder), cell phone, PHS (personal handyphone system), portable musicplayer, portable video processing device, PDA (personal digitalassistants), home game device, portable game device or householdelectrical appliance.

(2) Structure of Cell Phone According to the Present Embodiment

A structure of the cell phone 20 included in the communication system 1will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the structure of the cellphone 20A according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, thecell phone 20A includes an electric field coupler C, a networkcommunication unit 210, a storage destination selecting unit 220, ageneral memory 230, a dedicated memory 240, a reproducing unit 250, atransmission controlling unit 260 and an electric field communicationcontrolling unit 270.

The network communication unit 210 (first communication unit) makescommunication with the content server 10 via the network 12.Specifically, the network communication unit 210 may have a wirelesscommunication function defined in the IEEE (Institute of Electrical andElectronic Engineers) 802.11a, b, g and the like, or a MIMO (MultipleInput Multiple Output) communication function defined in the IEEE802.11n. Further, the network communication unit 210 may have acommunication function corresponding to WiMAX (WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access) defined in the IEEE 802.16 or acommunication function corresponding to a wired LAN defined in the IEEE802.3.

The network communication unit 210 may make a content data transmissionrequest to the content server 10 based on a user's operation, andreceive the content data transmitted from the content server 10 inresponse to the transmission request.

The cell phone 20 may have a structure for making communication otherthan the electric field communication in addition to the structure formaking the electric field communication, and FIG. 2 merely shows thenetwork communication unit 210 as one example of the structure formaking communication other than the electric field communication.

The storage destination selecting unit 220 has a function as a selectingunit for selecting a storage destination of the content data receivedfrom the content server 10 by the network communication unit 210.Hereinafter, a selection of the storage destination by the storagedestination selecting unit 220 will be described with reference to FIGS.2 and 3.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a structure example ofadditional information added to the content data. As shown in FIG. 3,the content data transmitted from the content server 10 contains a dataname, a data type, a data length, a storage destination flag and thelike, for example.

The storage destination selecting unit 220 selects whether to store thecontent data added with the additional information in the dedicatedmemory 240 based on the storage destination flag contained in theadditional information. For example, when the bit value of the storagedestination flag is “1”, the storage destination selecting unit 220 mayselect both the general memory 230 and the dedicated memory 240 as thestorage destination of the content data. On the other hand, when the bitvalue of the storage destination flag is “0”, the storage destinationselecting unit 220 may select only the general memory 230 as the storagedestination of the content data.

With the structure, when eight items of photograph data are receivedfrom the content server 10, for example, only two items of photographdata may be stored in the dedicated memory 240 and all the eight itemsmay be stored in the general memory 230.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing another structure example ofthe additional information added to the content data. In the exampleshown in FIG. 4, the content data transmitted from the content server 10contains a data name, a data type, a data length, a storage destinationflag and range information.

The storage destination selecting unit 220 stores part of the contentdata added with the addition information in the dedicated memory 240based on the range information contained in the additional information.For example, when the range information indicates the range A out of thecontent data as shown in FIG. 4, the storage destination selecting unit220 may select the dedicated memory 240 as the storage destination ofthe data portion of the range A. Further, the storage destinationselecting unit 220 may select the general memory 230 as the storagedestination of the entire content data.

With the structure, when the content data on a certain track is receivedfrom the content server 10, for example, a main part of the track (mainmelody line of the track) can be stored in the dedicated memory 240 andthe entire content data including the main melody part can be stored inthe general memory 230. Alternatively, when one item of photograph datais received from the content server 10, only the faces of photographicsubjects contained in the photograph data can be stored in the dedicatedmemory 240 and the entire photograph data containing the faces of thephotographic subjects can be stored in the general memory 230.

Returning to the explanation of the structure of the cell phone 20A withreference to FIG. 2, the general memory 230 (first storage unit) and thededicated memory 240 (second storage unit) stores, when being selectedas the storage destinations of certain data by the storage destinationselecting unit 220, the certain data.

FIG. 2 shows how the general memory 230 and the dedicated memory 240 arephysically separated, but the present embodiment is not limited to theexample. For example, the general memory 230 and the dedicated memory240 may be configured to be logically separated in the same storagemedium.

Further, the dedicated memory 240 may store the content data received bythe electric field coupler C and the general memory 230 may not storethe content data received by the electric field coupler C.

The general memory 230 and the dedicated memory 240 described above maybe a storage medium such as non-volatile memory, magnetic disk, opticaldisk and MO (Magneto Optical) disk. The non-volatile memory includesEEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) and EPROM(Erasable Programmable ROM). Further, the Magnetic disk includes a harddisk and a disc-shaped magnetic disk. The optical disk includes CD(Compact Disc), DVD-R (Digital Versatile Disc Recordable), BD (Blu-RayDisc (registered trademark)) and the like.

The reproducing unit 250 reproduces the content data stored in thegeneral memory 230. Specifically, the reproducing unit 250 decodes andoutputs the content data in a user recognizable form such as airvibration or video. Since only part of the content data is stored in thededicated memory 240 while the entire content data is stored in thegeneral memory 230, the reproducing unit 250 can perform typicalreproduction.

The electric field coupler C functions as the communication unit (secondcommunication unit) for making communication with an electric fieldcoupler of the approached communication apparatus (such as the cellphone 20B) through electric field coupling as described in “[1] Entirestructure of the present embodiment”.

The electric field communication controlling unit 270 controls theentire electric field communication between the electric field coupler Cand the cell phone 20B. For example, the electric field communicationcontrolling unit 270 generates and converts connection data for theconnection establishment processing into a signal transmittable from theelectric field coupler C. Further, the electric field communicationcontrolling unit 270 converts the data supplied from the transmissioncontrolling unit 260 into a signal transmittable from the electric fieldcoupler C.

Further, the electric field communication controlling unit 270 decodesthe data received by the electric field coupler C. For example, theelectric field communication controlling unit 270 may down-convert thedata received by the electric field coupler C as a high frequency signalinto a baseband signal to obtain a bit string based on theconstellation.

When the electric field coupler C and the cell phone 20B approach eachother, the transmission controlling unit 260 reads out the content datastored in the dedicated memory 240 as the data to be transmitted andsupplies the same to the electric field communication controlling unit270. Thus, when the electric field coupler C and the cell phone 20Bapproach each other, the content data stored in the dedicated memory 240is transmitted from the electric field coupler C to the cell phone 20B.The transmission controlling unit 260 may restrict the transmission ofthe content data stored in the general memory 230 from the electricfield coupler C. For example, the transmission controlling unit 260 mayentirely prohibit the transmission of the content data stored in thegeneral memory 230 from the electric field coupler C. Alternatively, thetransmission controlling unit 260 may restrict the transmission of thecontent data stored in the general memory 230 from the electric fieldcoupler C within the predetermined number of times (which may be setpreviously or for each content data). Alternatively, the transmissioncontrolling unit 260 may transmit the content data stored in the generalmemory 230 from the electric field coupler C only when predeterminedauthentication information (such as password) is input by the user. Thecell phone 20B may store the content data received from the electricfield coupler C of the cell phone 20A in the dedicated memory 240 of thecell phone 20B and transmit the content data stored in the dedicatedmemory 240 through electric field communication when approaching othercommunication apparatus.

With the structure, the transmission controlling unit 260 can primarily(preferentially) read out the content data stored in the dedicatedmemory 240 as the data to be transmitted. If the content data is managedin a single memory, it takes some time to search for the content data tobe transmitted but the search time can be reduced according to thepresent embodiment. Further, the content server 10 can set the storagedestination flag contained in the additional information to controlwhether the content data after the transmission can be transferredthrough electric field communication.

(3) Operation of Cell Phone According to the Present Embodiment

The structure of the cell phone 20 according to the present embodimenthas been described above with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4. Subsequently,an operation of the cell phone 20 according to the present embodimentwill be describe with reference to FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of the operation of the cell phone20 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, at first,when the network communication unit 210 receives the content data fromthe content server 10 (S304), the storage destination selecting unit 220confirms the storage destination flag contained in the additionalinformation added to the content data. Then, when the bit value of thestorage destination flag corresponds to the dedicated memory 240 (S308)and the range information is described therein (S312), the storagedestination selecting unit 220 selects the dedicated memory 240 as thestorage destination of the data portion indicated by the rangeinformation out of the content data (S320). Thus, the dedicated memory240 stores therein the data portion indicated by the range informationout of the content data.

On the other hand, when the bit value of the storage destination flagcorresponds to the dedicated memory 240 (S308) and the range informationis not described therein (S312), the storage destination selecting unit220 selects the dedicated memory 240 as the storage destination of thecontent data (S316). Thus, the dedicated memory 240 stores therein thecontent data.

Further, also when the bit value of the storage destination flag doesnot correspond to the dedicated memory 240 (S308), the storagedestination selecting unit 220 selects the general memory 230 as thestorage destination of the content data (S324). Thus, the general memory230 stores therein the content data.

Thereafter, the electric field communication controlling unit 270detects an approach between the electric field coupler C of the cellphone 20 and other communication apparatus. Specifically, the electricfield communication controlling unit 270 repeatedly transmits aconnection establishment request (C-Req) from the electric field couplerC until other communication apparatus approaches thereto. Then, when theelectric field coupler C of the cell phone 20 approaches othercommunication apparatus and the other communication apparatus receivesthe connection establishment request transmitted from the electric fieldcoupler C of the cell phone 20, the other communication apparatustransmits a response (C-ACC) to the connection establishment request.

Further, the electric field communication controlling unit 270 of thecell phone 20 transmits a confirmation signal (C-Ack) to the response(C-ACC)from the electric field coupler C so that a connection isestablished between the cell phone 20 and the other communicationapparatus. Here, the electric field communication controlling unit 270can detect the approach to the other communication apparatus inreception to the response (C-ACC) from the other communicationapparatus. There has been described the example in which the cell phone20 functions as an initiator, but when the cell phone 20 functions as aresponder, an approach to other communication apparatus may be detectedin reception to the connection establishment request (C-Req).

When the approach between the electric field coupler C of the cell phone20 and the other communication apparatus is detected in this manner(S328), the transmission controlling unit 260 reads out and supplies thecontent data stored in the dedicated memory 240 to the electric fieldcommunication controlling unit 270. Then, the electric fieldcommunication controlling unit 270 transmits the content data suppliedfrom the transmission controlling unit 260 from the electric fieldcoupler C to other communication apparatus (S332).

(4) Conclusion

As described above, when the electric field coupler C and the othercommunication apparatus approach each other, the transmissioncontrolling unit 260 primarily (preferentially) reads out the contentdata stored in the dedicated memory 240, and the electric fieldcommunication controlling unit 270 transmits the content data from theelectric field coupler C. In the present embodiment described above, atime to search for the content data to be transmitted through electricfield communication is restricted, thereby reducing an approach timebetween the electric field coupler C and other communication apparatus.

According to the present embodiment, for example, a main melody part inmusic data can be easily shared with many users in the electric fieldcommunication. Some users who like the main melody part of the musicamong the users who listened to it can be expected to purchase theentire music data.

The content server 10 sets the storage destination flag contained in theadditional information, thereby controlling whether the content data canbe transferred through electric field communication. If the contentserver 10 previously describes the address information for accessing thecontent data in the additional information, the user who has indirectlyreceived the content data can easily obtain content data relating to thecontent data.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

There has been mainly described the example in which only the contentdata stored in the dedicated memory 240 is to be transmitted, but thepresent invention is not limited to the example. For example, thetransmission controlling unit 260 may transmit the content data selectedby the user out of the content data stored in the general memory 230.

Each step in the processing of the cell phone 20 in the presentspecification does not necessarily need to be processed in time lime inthe order described in the flowchart. For example, each step in theprocessing of the cell phone 20 may include a processing performed inparallel or individually (such as parallel processing or objectprocessing).

Further, there can be created a computer program for causing hardwaresuch as CPU, ROM and RAM incorporated in the cell phone 20 to exhibitsimilar function as each structure of the cell phone 20 described above.A storage medium in which the computer program is stored is alsoprovided. The respective functional blocks illustrated in the functionalblock diagram of FIG. 2 are configured in hardware, thereby realizing aseries of processings in hardware.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication apparatus comprising: a firststorage unit; a second storage unit logically or physicallydiscriminated from the first storage unit; a first communication unit; asecond communication unit for transmitting data stored in the secondstorage unit through electric field coupling or magnetic field coupling;and a selecting unit for selecting at least either the first storageunit or the second storage unit as a storage destination of the datareceived by the first communication unit.
 2. The communication apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the selecting unit selects a storagedestination of the data based on additional information of the datareceived by the first communication unit.
 3. The communication apparatusaccording to claim 2, wherein when information indicating a partialrange of the data is contained in the additional information of the datareceived by the first communication unit, the selecting unit selects thesecond storage unit as a storage destination of the partial range of thedata and selects the first storage unit as a storage destination of thedata.
 4. The communication apparatus according to claim 3, wherein thedata stored in the first storage unit is restricted from transmittingfrom the second communication unit.
 5. A program for causing a computerto function as: a first storage unit; a second storage unit logically orphysically discriminated from the first storage unit; a firstcommunication unit; a second communication unit for transmitting datastored in the second storage unit through electric field coupling ormagnetic field coupling; and a selecting unit for selecting at leasteither the first storage unit or the second storage unit as a storagedestination of the data received by the first communication unit.
 6. Acommunication method comprising the steps of: receiving data in anarbitrary communication method; selecting at least either a firststorage unit or a second storage unit logically or physicallydiscriminated from the first storage unit as a storage destination ofthe data received by the arbitrary communication method; storing thedata in a selected storage destination; and transmitting the data storedin the second storage unit through electric field coupling or magneticfield coupling.
 7. A communication system comprising: a firstcommunication apparatus for making communication through electric fieldcoupling or magnetic field coupling; and a second communicationapparatus including, a first storage unit, a second storage unitlogically or physically discriminated from the first storage unit, afirst communication unit, a second communication unit for transmittingdata stored in the second storage unit to the first communicationapparatus through electric field coupling or magnetic field coupling,and a selecting unit for selecting at least either the first storageunit or the second storage unit as a storage destination of the datareceived by the first communication unit.